The numbers serve as a grim reminder to Marylanders to take cold weather seriously and look out for neighbors who may be more vulnerable, state health officials said.

“We saw temperatures that we don’t usually see. That kind of cold can be very, very dangerous,” said Clifford S. Mitchell, director of the Maryland Health Department’s Environmental Health Bureau. “It doesn’t have to be that cold for it to be dangerous, but when it does get that cold, we want to emphasize those preventive measures.”

According to a recent report from the Maryland Department of Health, the 77 Marylanders who died from cold-related illnesses this year is two more than the previous record of 75, set just last year.

Those low temperatures also led to almost 3,000 people landing in the emergency room – most for cold-related reasons, but some due to which tends to increase in the cold months.

The data comes from weekly updates to the “Maryland Cold-Related Illness Surveillance Report” which issued its last update for the year on

The annual cold season typically runs from November through March, with some years spilling into the first week of April. The cold season surveillance period ended on April 4 this year.

“We’re looking very closely at the data and thinking about how we better identify, in greater detail, those people who are at increased risks,” Mitchell said. “We’re trying to understand those increased risks where we can do a better job with our local health department colleagues and emergency services.”

The most recent data shows that of the 77 people who died, 46 were 65 or older, a vulnerable group if exposed to extreme temperatures. Almost 70% of the fatalities were men. About 16% of the total deaths were of people who are presumed homeless, while 69% had an address associated with them. The remaining 15% could not be confirmed to have an address or not.

“We really want to try to reach people who are at risk however and wherever we can – that I think is the continuing lesson of this,” Mitchell said.

Meanwhile, there were 2,665 people who went to the emergency department or urgent care for cold-related illnesses,  well over last year’s record of 2,130 visits.

A total of 326 people went to the emergency room for carbon monoxide exposure, beating the previous record of 205 visits from the 2023-2024 cold season.

There were also 907 calls for emergency medical services, up from last year’s record of 572.

The record-breaking winter comes on the heels of a deadly 2025 heat season that saw the highest number of deaths in over a decade.

Mitchell says that some of these extreme temperatures are to be expected due to climate change. He said state officials like the health department and emergency services need to be prepared to help people in times of crisis and more quickly identify vulnerable populations.

“Even as we talk about a warming planet, we’re also seeing changes in temperatures that are not only extremely high, but also lower lows and longer lows,” Mitchell said. “We have to be prepared for, and are trying to be prepared for, weather events that are both from extreme heat and related to cold.”

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Wednesday was one of those days, as all five took the stage to face a few dozen residents at the Riderwood Village senior community in Silver Spring in the afternoon before meeting again at a scheduled appearance in Bethesda with the two Republicans in the race.

Part of the 90-minute forum hosted by the Riderwood Democratic Club focused on the $8 billion proposed for the county by outgoing County Executive Marc Elrich (D). Elrich is seeking a 6.3-cent increase in the property tax and a 0.1% income tax increase to pay for the budget, which would fully fund the county’s 160,000-student public school system, the largest in the state.

Three of the candidates for executive – Andrew Friedson, Evan Glass and Will Jawando – serve on the County Council that must decide on that budget. Elrich, who is term-limited as executive, is now running for an at-large seat on the 11-member council.

“I will not be supporting the tax increases that the county executive has proposed, but I will continue looking at the budget and finding ways to make it more efficient and finding reductions when necessary,” said Glass, an at-large councilmember.

Friedson, who represents District 1, noted that Wednesday was “Tax Day.” He said raising taxes “is completely unsustainable. We have to figure out a way to manage government. We have to be able to figure out a way to be more efficient with your taxpayer dollars.”

Jawando, an at-large councilmember, said life isn’t easy for residents under the county’s regressive tax system, noting that homeowners pay the same property tax rate as major county businesses such as Marriott, AstraZeneca, or a proposed data center. He said the county would need state authority to change the tax system, but that would be a priority for him as executive.

Two of the other Democratic candidates – landlord Mithun Banerjee and small business owner Peter James – don’t support the proposed tax increase.

Banerjee blamed his three councilmember opponents for not doing enough.

“If we are doing so good, why do you have to keep increasing taxes? These people are the ones at fault,” he said.

The candidates took questions from Maryland Matters founder Josh Kurtz, who moderated the forum, and from members of the audience, on affordable housing, public schools, the and data centers.

Friedson said he helped expand the duties of the Office of Inspector General to include the school system. “I was proud to lead the effort,” he said.

Glass praised the school system, but said he will not “simply rubber stamp the school board’s budget,” which represents half of all county spending.

Banerjee said he would tie public school funding to school performance, or student outcomes. “Don’t do your performance, you don’t get your money,” he said.

James, who was the only person on stage to wear a T-shirt rather than a sports jacket, said more funding should go to Montessori schools.

“Who’s ever heard of a school shooting at a Montessori school? They have better outcomes, both in graduation rate and later in life,” said James, who graduated from Springbrook High School in 1973.

Jawando, who chairs the council’s Education and Culture Committee, said he’s visited more than half of the county’s schools. He also highlighted his endorsement from the powerful Montgomery County Education Association.

The candidates were finally asked to tell the audience their favorite Montgomery County restaurants. Banerjee said if someone would like something quick and affordable, “McDonald’s.”

According to the , there were almost 404,000 registered Democrats in Montgomery County in March, compared to 100,040 registered Republicans and about 189,000 independents. That makes the winner of the June 23 Democratic primary a heavy favorite to win the Nov. 3 general election.

But that hasn’t stopped two Republican candidates, Shelly Skolnick, an attorney, and Esther Wells, a certified public accountant, from filing paperwork to run in the GOP primary.

All seven candidates were scheduled to appear at a candidate’s forum Wednesday evening hosted by the Citizens Coordinating Committee on Friendship Heights, a nonpartisan coalition that represents about 20,000 residents in the southwest part of the county.

The state show Arian Borghei has filed as a write-in candidate in the general election.

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But she repeated her hopes that the bill, named for her daughters who died in a 2022 fire in a rental without working smoke detectors, will protect another family from the anguish her family has suffered.

and among the first of more than 140 bills signed into law Tuesday by Moore, Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel), just hours after the 2026 legislative session

The three leaders looked past the final day drama to praise the overall achievements of the session, which they said passed bills to address affordability issues and push back against policies from the Trump administration.

“As we are living in a time … where our politics are mired in hate and division, and it’s easier to fight than to find a way to solve problems, the only way forward is to get the job done,” Ferguson said. “That’s what we did in partnership and in unity.”

The bill signing ceremony occurred in the Governor’s Reception Room in Annapolis, where bill sponsors were joined by hundreds of advocates affected by the bills, waiting in line for the chance to stand behind the leaders and get their picture taken at the signing.

Moore commended Weiner for her bravery in advocating for the legislation.

“We are grateful that she has turned pain into progress and has turned hurt into heroism,” Moore said. “Because of her courage, because of her will, because they chose to turn the worst moment of their lives into a fight for other families that they may never even meet.”

He extended his gratitude all other Marylanders who share similarly challenging personal stories, some for multiple years in a row, to improve state laws.

“We’re thankful that you made your voices heard because in that you made our state better,” Moore said.

Weiner couldn’t easily put words to how she felt following the bill signing.

“It’s hard to describe,” she said. “I’m grateful — it’s a heavy lift, it’s an emotional lift.”

The bills named for her daughters will require greater fire safety measures at short-term rentals through companies like Vrbo and Airbnb. The legislation was inspired by tragedy in 2022, Jillian and Lindsay, then 21 and 19, respectively, were killed in a fire at a short-term rental unit in New York that did not have functioning fire alarms.

Moore also signed the “Vax Act,” granting the state health secretary authority to set vaccine recommendations for Marylanders, independent of any federal guidelines. The bills, and also ensure that those recommendations are covered by Maryland insurance companies.

The legislation was a priority for Moore, who announced the proposal earlier this year, shortly after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. began rewriting vaccine recommendations for children.

In fact, many bills pushed over the finish line this session were in response to Trump administration policies – including legislation aimed at limiting cooperation with federal agents in immigration enforcement.

Peña-Melnyk highlighted the immigration-focused legislation, along with housing affordability measures and a massive energy package, as high points to what she called a “highly productive session.”

“It was my first session as speaker, and it’s in the books. And I have to say that I am proud of what we have accomplished,” she said.

“With this budget and everything we’ve done, honest to God, we have created opportunities and have protected the people of Maryland,” Peña-Melnyk said.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org.

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Tensions spilled over in the Senate after Republican senators slow-walked bills for much of the evening with the clock ticking. And chaos erupted in the House at four minutes to midnight when House leaders tried to cut off debate on a voting rights bill and lawmakers began shouting over each other as the speaker tried to keep the process moving.

The House explosion came over , the Maryland Voting Rights Act of 2026, that supporters have said is needed to preserve voting rights ahead of Supreme Court rulings this summer that are expected to gut the federal Voting Rights Act.

Republicans spent close to an hour in a House session Saturday debating the bill that they called biased and partisan. But when they tried to continue that debate late Monday night, Democrats called the question, essentially shutting off debate.

House Republicans , demanding to debate the issue further, and Democrats shouted back. House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) said the motion was not debatable, but the ruckus scarcely died down until midnight, when Majority Leader David Moon (D-Montgomery) moved that the House adjourn Sine Die.

Peña-Melnyk, speaking to reporters early Tuesday, attributed the outburst to the stress that comes with the final hours of a legislative session.

“You know that always happens on Sine Die. You know why? It is because everyone is stressed,” she said. “It is the last day and the clock is running.

“Moving forward, again, my job is to run the floor in a way that is respectful and civil, which I’ve done, and I stand by that, because I was very intentional about that. And my friends across the aisle, they’re my friends,” Peña-Melnyk said.

The Senate was more of a slow burn, as Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) grew frustrated with some Republicans slowing down the passage of bills.

Sen. William Folden (R-Frederick) was among those frequently questioning bills and offering amendments throughout the day, as the clock was ticking.

Tensions reached a boiling point with minutes to go before midnight, as Folden rose again to ask questions about  — a bill creating a premium cigar lounge liquor license for tobacco shops — on what would ultimately be the last bill of the session.

“Please stop. You’ve embarrassed yourself enough,” Ferguson said from the rostrum, interrupting Folden’s line of questioning. With just two minutes left, Ferguson dropped the bill and moved into a brief line of thanks before adjourning.

Folden said he was upset because he had been working with Senate leadership to pass a salary increase for the Frederick County Sheriff, by attaching it to a bill about the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney, but that leadership abruptly reversed course.

“At the last minute, apparently they weren’t happy about that,” Folden said. “They don’t like the sheriff of Frederick County. They made it a personal matter.”

He said he didn’t begrudge Ferguson for his stern remarks Monday night.

“It’s a high-tension time. I don’t have any ill will to the Senate president,” Folden said. “I’m operating within what I have left as a super minority member. That’s all I got.”

Despite the high-volume arguing in the last moments of the 2026 session, the House and Senate were able to come together during the rest of the day to finalize dozens of bills and send them off to the governor for consideration.

Stillbirth tax credits

A third attempt to grant a $1,000 tax credit for parents who have faced the loss of a child through stillbirth faced an uncertain future just a week ago, but now it’s on its way to the governor’s desk.

Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Montgomery) last week called on the House to move  which had not been voted out of the Ways and Means Committee. But committee Chair Jheanelle K. Wilkins (D-Montgomery) expressed concerns over whether a tax credit was the most appropriate offer to grieving parents.

As of Monday, the committee had not voted on the legislation, holding it up in the legislative process.

Instead of waiting for a committee vote, Waldstreicher added the stillbirth tax credit language to , which concerns an income tax subtraction for agricultural equipment. It would require the agriculture secretary to report to the legislature and the governor on recommendations for which types of equipment should qualify for an income tax subtraction modification.

The House ultimately accepted the amended version, sending both the agriculture-related tax benefit and the stillbirth tax credit to the governor’s desk.

Waldstreicher called it “a historic moment of recognition for parents who have been through incredible trauma.”

“This has been a five-year labor of love,” he said, recognizing Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), Wilkins, and the parents of stillbirth children who “never gave up” and continued to advocate for the legislation.

Transit-oriented housing bill back on track

Gov. Wes Moore’s priority housing bill, on Transit-Oriented Housing, would encourage new housing development around transit-oriented locations by restricting parking minimums and other local decisions in specific situations. �����Ի��� would also prohibit the collection of certain county taxes until a project is close to completion.

But the bills got hung up between the House and Senate in a dispute over so-called project labor agreements (PLAs).

The administration bill originally included language calling for PLAs, collective bargaining agreements between a project developer and labor unions establishing the terms for employment on a project. Developers looking to apply for the state’s Transit-Oriented Development Capital Grant and Revolving Loan Fund would get a boost if the project included a PLA, under Moore’s proposed legislation.

The House wanted to keep that language, while the Senate stripped it out. Ultimately, the House deferred to the Senate. The bills approved Monday say developers applying for a state grant to help fund their projects can include so-called project labor agreements (PLAs), but they won’t earn extra consideration by state officials for doing so.

No vacations for Cayman Island insurance tax

The Senate agreed with the House that a complex tax issue on so-called captive insurance should be left up to state insurance officials to decide whether hospitals should have been paying taxes on potentially billions sheltered in the Cayman Islands — at least for the time being.

“Captive insurance” is when an organization forms its own insurance company — a captive — to help cover claims that may not be covered by commercial insurance.

Maryland does not have a regulatory framework to let companies establish captives within the state. So decades ago, Maryland nonprofit hospitals set up captives in offshore locations such as the Cayman Islands. The hospitals believe those captives are not subject to a 3% state tax on out-of-state insurance premiums, but state insurance officials aren’t so sure.

Senate Bill 890 had proposed a two-year pause on the tax to give the Maryland Insurance Administration time to study the issue. But the pause in tax collections was stripped out by the House Ways and Means Committee, and the amended bill was given a preliminary OK by the full House Friday.

The Senate agreed to remove the proposed two-year pause Monday.

“So if MIA does a study and decides that the taxation is correct and should be done, then they can go ahead and charge the tax,” Finance Chair Pamela Beidle (D-Anne Arundel) said before the chamber approved the bill on a unanimous vote.

Elopement bills see some successes

A legislative package known as the LEAD Act, to provide greater resources for people with disabilities who “elope,” or wander away from caregivers, made notable strides this year, with lawmakers passing two out of five first-time bills.

The LEAD Act — for Laila’s Elopement Awareness and Dissemination Act — is named after a young autistic girl whose elopement at age 6 inspired the bills to give caregivers more resources when their loved one wanders away, a common occurrence for people with autism, dementia and other disabilities.

On Monday, the Senate approved , to require law enforcement training on how officers can better locate and interact with an individual who has “eloped.” The Senate version of the bill , was passed and sent to the governor’s desk last week.

The Senate on Monday also gave final approval to , which prompts the Maryland Department of Health to set up a resource webpage for family caregivers.

Other bills passed the House, but got stuck in Senate committees. They would have  the use of locative devices with parents of autistic kids prone to elopement and increased  to include nearby bodies of water, 

Megalodon lives in Maryland

After some concerns that the bill making megalodon the official state shark might be as dead as the prehistoric shark itself, it rose from depths of the General Assembly recycling bin Monday.

The shark and a proposal for “Purple Lights Night,” to honor survivors of domestic violence, were appended by the House to , sponsored by Sen. Carl Jackson (D-Baltimore County), which originally designated the Natural History Society of Maryland as the state’s official natural history museum. The Senate unanimously agreed to the “State Shark, State Natural Sciences Museum, and Purple Lights Night” bill Monday.

“I guess [I’ll] be the shark guy now,” Jackson said early Tuesday morning after the Senate adjourned Sine Die. “But definitely happy to bring the Maryland State Natural History Museum to Baltimore County. It’s been a long time coming, and I’m really excited about it. It’s been a journey.”

As for the megalodon (formerly called “Otodus megalodon”), the legislation almost went to sleep with the fishes, after it failed to get out of the Senate. It was revived by the House Government, Labor and Elections Committee which rolled the museum, megalodon and domestic violence survivors into one measure.

Shark support came not only from two sponsors — Sen. Jack Bailey (R-Calvert and St. Mary’s) and Del. Todd Morgan (R-St. Mary’s) — but also from fourth-grade students at Beltsville Academy in Prince George’s County who drew shark pictures and submitted letters to the Senate Education, Energy and the Environment Committee.

“I think it was extremely important that in the divisiveness of the world today, when it comes to politics, that we were able to influence the hundreds of children that wrote testimony to this bill to learn about how an idea becomes a law,” Bailey said early Tuesday morning.

A study on second jobs

Unlike the megalodon, Sen. Ron Watson’s (D-Prince George’s)  looked last week like it might be going places. But the bill, that would have eased restrictions on state lawmakers holding another state job, or working for a county or municipal government, was first turned into a study then died when the clock ran out Monday.

The bipartisan legislation, co-sponsored by Sen. Johnny Ray Salling (R-Baltimore County), would have let a lawmaker hold a second state or local government job if that person had served at least one full term in office and “objectively satisfied the minimum education, licensure and experience requirements” of the job.

It was approved 32-10 in the Senate on March 23. It appeared Watson had a receptive audience when he presented the bill April 7 to the , but it voted Saturday to  as a Task Force on Legislator Employment.

The House granted preliminary approval to the amended bill and passed the measure 101-36 on the same day Monday. The Senate would have had to concur with those changes for the amended bill to pass, but the legislation did not get across to the Senate before midnight and the bill died.

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The House of Delegates voted 92-39 on Monday to give final approval to , which limits the number of offenses for which youth can be automatically charged in adult courts. The bill now goes to Gov. Wes Moore (D). who is expected to sign it.

Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery), the bill’s sponsor, called passage in both chambers “a significant step forward,” even as advocates and some Democratic legislators were saying it’s only a first step and will need to be strengthened in the future to help more youth.

“I think that will solidify and strengthen the arguments for further reforms down the line,” Smith said Monday evening after the Senate adjourned. “It’s a great day in terms of government efficiency, in terms of public safety, better public safety outcomes for youth, for the state of Maryland, for Marylanders.”

Approval came after a 75-minute debate in the House, where Republicans urged their Democratic colleagues to understand that youth who are repeat violent offenders or charged with serious crimes should face severe consequences.

“A firm hand right from the start can sometimes save a child’s life,” said Del. Lauren Arikan (R-Harford).

But the Democratic-majority House easily rejected four and a request from House Minority Whip Jesse Pippy (R-Frederick) to hold the bill for an hour to give lawmakers a chance to confer with the Department of Legislative Services “on what this bill actually does.”

“This is a serious piece of legislation,” Pippy said. “This is a very important bill. It’s one hour. So, if we can’t have that, I don’t know what to tell you.”

Pippy’s request was rejected 88-37.

Aides to the governor were not able to confirm Monday whether or not he would sign the bill, but did note that the administration has supported it throughout the session. Juvenile Services Secretary and Dorothy Lennig, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy, both testified in support of the bill during committee hearings.

SB 323 would raise the age when a youth could be tried as an adult for most crimes from 14 to 16, but it would still send 14- and 15-year-olds directly to adult court for first-degree murder or rape charges. The bill also specifies that 16-year-olds charged with offenses such as first-degree assault and some firearms offenses would remain in juvenile court.

The bill incorporated language from Sen. Sara Love’s that prohibits youth charged as adults from being “detained or confined” in an adult prison. The only exception would be if no “secure juvenile detention area” is immediately available, in which case a youth could be processed in an adult jail, but not be held for more than six hours.

The bill requires annual reports by the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy to the General Assembly and the Commission on Juvenile Justice and Emerging and Best Practices by Oct. 1, 2027, and every Oct. 1 thereafter.

The reports would include the number of youths housed in facilities with adult offenders on a monthly basis, the number of youths charged as adults and a listing of those offenses. It would also require the number of any federal violations that prohibit youth “from having sight and sound contact with adult offenders.”

, by Juvenile Services, in consultation with the Governor’s Crime Prevention office and the Administrative Office of the Courts, would include average length of stay for youth awaiting placement in a juvenile detention facility, the number of cases in which a juvenile court waives or declines to waive jurisdiction and the number of cases in which a court transfers a case to juvenile court.

That report must also be submitted to the General Assembly and the juvenile justice commission.

Maryland’s system of automatically charging youth as adults in some cases is an outlier among states — critics have been fond of pointing out that only Alabama sends more 14- to 17-year-olds to adult court.

A commission work group last year the practice of automatically charging youth as adults, “with judicial discretion to waive youth into adult court when warranted. This reform reflects national best practice and aligns Maryland with federal law.”

The bill as introduced, however, did not go that far. It more closely resembled the final version, in hopes of attracting conservative Democrats and Republicans. The bill did have one GOP co-sponsor, Sen. Chris West (R-Baltimore and Carroll).

“This is a product of compromise,” said House Majority Whip Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s), who voted for the measure Monday. “We’re deciding that we’re going to make sure kids are seen as kids here in our state. That they are redeemable. That we give them the opportunity to be the best person that they can and provide pathways for progress. This allows us to do that.”

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The lengthy debate was productive, as the House accepted two Republican amendments to the bill, one of which adds another “good cause” for why a landlord can decide against renewing a lease with a tenant. The other exempts short-term rentals from the legislation.

The House rejected nine Republican amendments that would have made the bill more friendly to landlords at the expense of renter protections.

The bill is expected to get final House approval early next week before it gets sent to the Senate, which is where similar legislation has struggled for several years.

, sponsored by Del. Jheanelle K. Wilkins (D-Montgomery), is the most recent version of legislation also known as “just cause evictions.” The measures let local jurisdictions require landlords who want to cancel a lease to inform tenants of the reason, choosing from a specified list outlined in the bill.

Those reasons could include not paying rent, engaging in disorderly conduct or breaching the lease agreement, among other issues.

Del. Chris Tomlinson (R-Frederick and Carroll) offered an amendment to add include situations where someone’s rental is dependent on employment on the “good cause” list.

“It’s not uncommon for landlords to employ a property manager, resident manager or maintenance worker, and often times that employment comes with employment-based housing,” Tomlinson said. “So I think it’s more than reasonable to just say that if the job comes to an end, there’s no reason that the landlord should be expected to automatically renew their lease.”

Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-Montgomery), who was leading floor discussion on the bill, accepted it as a friendly amendment — a rare but not unknown case for Republican amendments in the Democrat-controlleed House.

Charkoudian also accepted as friendly Del. Steven J. Arentz’s (R-Upper Shore) amendment to exclude short-term rentals from the bill, noting that it was silent on companies like Vrbo or Airbnb.

But that’s where the friendly amendments ended. Efforts to require tenants to pay attorneys’ fees if they lose a court case involving a good cause claim, and to exempt landlords who are active military from the bill were among several shot down.

Charkoudian said that the point of the legislation was to protect families from unjustified evictions, so weakening those protections would go against the point of the bill

“This is enabling legislation. So, if we pass this law, each individual county would have to choose to enable this locally,” Charkoudian said. “What this bill is about is it is about creating stability in our communities…. The goal of this bill is to make sure that if a family is going to be moved out of their home, there’s got to be a good reason.”

After the debate, the House gave preliminary approval to the bill amended bill and sent it for a final vote, likely early next week. But House Minority Leader Jason C. Buckel (R-Allegany) said Republicans are still going to fiercely oppose the issue when it comes up for a final vote.

“It’s a strange bill,” Buckel said after the evening floor session. “It’s a bill that’s got a lot of opposition. It’s a bill that was the result of a sort of different committee process.”

The legislation was revived this week after the Economic Matters committee originally voted down on it Monday.

When Economic Matters Chair Kriselda Valderrama (D-Prince George’s) called for a favorable vote on HB 774 Monday, it did not pass — just nine of the 20 delegates on the committee voted for it. Seven voted no, one abstained and three were absent.

On Wednesday, Del. Veronica Turner (D-Prince George’s), who opposed the legislation Monday, called to reconsider the bill. She voted with 10 others for it, two voted no, one was excused and six were absent, including several Republicans who walked out during discussion on the bill.

“It was brought back, and people changed their minds miraculously in a 36-hour period,” Buckel said.

The favorable vote Wednesday allowed it to come to the floor Friday for consideration by the full House, where many expect the bill will pass.

The House passed similar legislation in 2024, approving the bill in a 96-7, but that bill died in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.

Last year, Judicial Proceedings took the lead but tried to amend the bill to make local jurisdictions pick between rent-control measures or good cause evictions, trying to find a middle ground between developers and renters. But advocates pulled support for the amended measure, and the bill died in committee again.

Even if the House passes HB 774, it’s likely to face similar hurdles in the Senate, especially with a little more than a week left in the 2026 legislative session.

“I would surmise that the bill doesn’t have a lot of chances for success in the Senate,” Buckel said.

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The amendment — which comes from Republicans but now has bipartisan support — was added unanimously Tuesday in the Senate Education, Energy and Environment Committee to the sweeping energy legislation known as the Utility RELIEF Act.

But renewable energy advocates are sounding the alarm. They believe that the model underlying the study is flawed, since it unfairly disadvantages renewable energy.

The study evaluates hypothetical scenarios in which all the state’s electricity needs are met by only one type of generation, paired with battery energy storage. Wind and solar, which cannot generate energy all the time, would require more batteries to serve the grid around the clock, so they will likely appear more expensive under this analysis, said Rebecca Rehr, director of climate policy and justice at Maryland’s League of Conservation Voters.

“There is an inherent bias against renewables in this approach,” Rehr said. “The study proposed in the bill would be a hypothetical scenario: What if Maryland were powered only by one source of energy at a time? … That’s not based in reality.”

But Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Lower Shore), who sponsored a bill on the subject as well as the amendment, argues that the study is valuable, because it will provide the “fuller costs” of different energy types. And it doesn’t just scrutinize renewables, she said, but studies natural gas and nuclear energy as well.

“The current model … It doesn’t look at issues where there’s intermittent sources like wind and solar, or doesn’t look at the dispatchability issue, where you need storage,” she said.

Carozza’s study was added to the , the broad bill touching on energy concepts from data centers and energy efficiency to power lines and solar panels.

Education, Energy and Environment Committee Chair Brian Feldman (D-Montgomery) said Wednesday he didn’t recall ardent opposition from renewables groups to the study when the committee heard Carozza’s bill. But he added that there is ample time to alter the Utility RELIEF Act as concerns arise before the session ends on April 13.

“This is a 100-plus page bill, and there are parts of this 100-page bill that people can pick out and decipher and be critical,” Feldman said. “If there are some things that we missed, I think there’d be opportunities — even for this session — to fix it. But obviously, we come back every session.”

Carozza’s study also passed the Senate unanimously as a standalone bill, which is scheduled to be heard Thursday by the House Environment and Transportation Committee.

Carozza, whose district includes Ocean City, is an ardent opponent of the offshore wind farm proposed for the beach town’s coastline. But she said her study is not meant solely to show wind energy’s cost.

“That’s not the purpose of the bill,” Carozza said. “That’s why it is fuel-neutral. Because I could have written the bill just to have one source.”

Carozza said she was inspired to introduce the legislation by constituents, who had questions about the costs behind various sources of energy.

“There’s a recognition and, I think, a consensus that we need more energy generation in the state of Maryland. But what are the costs involved with that?” Carozza asked.

Carozza notes that the study has the support of the Maryland Public Service Commission, which would be tasked with conducting the analysis. The commission suggested several amendments, and they were added to the bill, Carozza said.

Benjamin Baker, senior adviser at the commission, said the amendments give the commission additional flexibility to use other models — not just the Levelized Full System Cost of Electricity, or LFSCOE, model, as it’s known.

“The important thing is that the Senator accepted an amendment allowing the Commission to utilize other appropriate models in the study,” Baker said in a statement. “This means we will have the flexibility to also include other modeling and tools as we study the process if we think it is needed or have concerns as we go.”

Under Carozza’s amendment, the PSC would conduct the study using funds from ratepayers. It would need to use a consultant, and that’s expected to cost $250,000 for one year — less than one cent per month for the average ratepayer.

But during a legislative session when the focus is on reducing ratepayer bills, adding costs — for a study of dubious value — feels counterproductive, Rehr said.

“Why add money to our electric bills to analyze a hypothetical?” Rehr asked.

Bryan Dunning, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Progressive Reform, argued that the hypothetical situation studied under the bill is “entirely detached” from the existing generation mix in Maryland, or in the electric grid that serves Maryland, PJM Interconnection.

“At best, this would result in a study that is of no use in evaluating actual least-cost pathways to affordable, reliable electricity in the state,” Dunning said in a statement. “At worst, it legitimizes an unvetted economic model and would use bad modeling to promote bad policy.”

“It’s because they recognize that information is going to come back that doesn’t align with their goals,” Hershey said.

Hershey argues that it has been difficult to quantify the costs of the General Assembly’s endorsement of renewable energy, including through the Renewable Portfolio Standard, which requires energy suppliers to procure an increasing amount of wind, solar, and other forms of renewable energy. He is hoping that Carozza’s study, which he also sponsored, will help demystify those costs.

“It has been a struggle for as long as I’ve been here to find out, really, what these policies cost,” he said.

Adam Dubitsky, Maryland director for the Land & Liberty Coalition, who previously worked for Gov. Larry Hogan (R), said that the LFSCOE model is an “anti-renewable” framework, “masquerading as responsible energy policy.” The coalition is a group of farmers, landowners and community members who support utility-scale renewable energy.

The model, debuted in a 2022 journal article out of Rice University, has “developed a cult following among anti-wind and solar activists,” Dubitsky said in a statement.

“All this does is force an already burdened PSC to waste time and ratepayer dollars analyzing a make-believe world where all our electricity comes from a single source, in order to mislead ratepayers about affordable, quickly-deployed renewable energy.”

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Current Superintendent Shawn Joseph was appointed June 2025 by County Executive Aisha Braveboy (D) to replace former Superintendent Millard House II after the teachers’ union gave House a vote of no confidence.

Because Joseph’s position is for the current 2025-26 school year, state law requires a three-member search committee be named to help find a permanent leader.

State Superintendent Carey Wright selected state Board of Education member James Bell Jr. to chair the committee. Gov. Wes Moore (D) appointed two county residents, Jennifer Avelar and Gordon L. Sampson, to join the panel.

Avelar serves as a C.O.A.S.T. (Creating Opportunities for Academic Success and Transfer) adviser at Prince George’s Community College, managing pre-enrollment advising for recruitment and the dual enrollment program for high school students. Sampson worked in the county’s public schools as a teacher, instructional specialist and principal from 1969 until his retirement in 2000. He became a member of the Bowie State University Foundation’s board of directors in 2017 and served as chair for five years.

PoliHire, a Washington, D.C. based search firm, will partner with Braveboy and the county’s school board in a national recruitment effort to find the next superintendent.

The department said the firm helped solicit feedback from various stakeholders to not only develop a leadership profile, but also garner responses from about 8,600 people in a community survey “on school system perspectives and qualities in the next superintendent.” The survey ended Friday.

Candidates interested in the position must submit applications by April 22. Once received, the committee will work with the firm to screen applications, conduct background checks and interview candidates.

Three finalists will be forwarded to Braveboy by May 8.

Braveboy has until June 1 to forward a candidate to the county school board, which must make a decision by June 30. Once the county executive selects a candidate, which must be done by June 1, that person’s name will be sent to the county school board for its approval by June 30.

Final approval rests with the state superintendent, for a schools chief to serve a four-year term.

“We remain committed to a transparent, inclusive, and thoughtful process.” Bell said in a statement Monday. “Over the coming weeks, committee members will carefully assess each applicant’s qualifications, leadership experience, and vision for advancing student achievement and supporting our educators and school communities.

“The committee will keep the Prince George’s County Public Schools community informed as we move forward. Our goal is to recommend highly qualified candidates who will lead Prince George’s County Public Schools into its next chapter of excellence,” he said.

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James Appel faces three counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering in  that was unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

Prosecutors, in the 10-page indictment, alleged that Appel stole money from the account of at least one elected official and one community organization with which he was associated.

Appel is accused of not only stealing money from the two accounts to finance his yacht lifestyle, but of also signing campaign finance reports misrepresenting the balances of the account. He is also accused of lying about bank balances to board members of the community group from which he allegedly stole.

Appel is the owner of GOP Compliance, an Annapolis-based political consulting firm, that assists Republican candidates and other organizations with campaign finance reporting.

He is listed as the treasurer on as many as 20 campaign accounts, according to a search of Maryland State Board of Elections records. Included in those are accounts for Sen. Stephen S. Hershey Jr (Upper Shore), Dels. Jefferson Ghrist (Upper Shore) and Robin Grammer (Baltimore County), and Adam Wood, the former communications director for the state Republican Party who is now a candidate for Maryland Senate. Appel is also listed as the treasurer for the House Republican Caucus and the Talbot County Republican Central Committee.

Prosecutors allege that Appel stole from at least one of those clients, transferring about $100,000 total from an account controlled by an unnamed politician. The indictment alleges Appel transferred money out of the politician’s campaign account.

Sometimes those funds went to an account associated with his firm. Other transfers were sent to a dummy firm that appeared to belong to the politician but was allegedly controlled solely by Appel.

Eventually the money landed in various personal accounts controlled by Appel. The money was used to pay off debt or to bolster his personal wealth as he sought to finance a Pacific Mariner 65 yacht.

The indictment does not name the elected official from whom Appel is alleged to have stolen.

Del. Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County) said in a text exchange that she is the person referred to as “Politician 1.”

“Today’s indictment confirms what many of us suspected,” Szeliga said in a statement. “As a trusted professional, political, and commercial treasurer, James Appel exploited that trust and stole from the very people he was hired to serve. It’s a betrayal beyond words.”

In her statement, Szeliga implied there may be other victims.

“I am one of the victims in this case,” she said. “Like others, I relied on him to handle campaign finances honestly and transparently. Instead, he allegedly diverted and embezzled funds that were contributed in good faith by hardworking Marylanders, who are also victims of his alleged crimes.”

Szeliga, in a text exchange with a reporter, declined to confirm an exact dollar amount taken from her. She said she continues to “work with the FBI.”

Szeliga paid more than $7,500 in accounting, legal and consulting fees to Appel’s firm since 2020, according to state campaign finance records.

Appel is also accused of transferring a total of $100,000 from the bank account of a community organization in Anne Arundel County. The indictment does not name the group but describes it as one that organized and promoted tennis events in the county.

The indictment states that in 2018, Appel was treasurer of the unnamed organization.

Appel is currently listed as a board member of the Anne Arundel County Tennis Association.

In 2017, when he was a candidate for the Annapolis City Council, Appel’s official biography notes that he served as treasurer for the Anne Arundel Tennis Association.

In that biography, Appel described himself as appointed by then Gov. Larry Hogan (R) as the executive financial officer at the Maryland Department of Information Technology. He also served as controller to Hogan’s reelection campaign.

He also listed himself as a member of the Eastport Yacht Club.

Appel pleaded not guilty on Monday and was released.

As part of the , Appel was ordered to surrender his passport and not attempt to obtain any international travel documents. He was also ordered not to access bank accounts identified in the indictment, and to not open new accounts.

Additionally, U.S. Magistrate Judge Erin Aslin ordered Appel to notify, within 48 hours, any individual or entity with whom he offers consulting services of his federal criminal charges.

If convicted, Appel faces a maximum of up to 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud count. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison for each money laundering count.

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It was one bit of good news in a string of positive developments for a package of bills Bailey is backing that deal with the problem of “elopement.”

The House voted unanimously Wednesday to pass  which requires police training for situations involving elopement — which is not standardized across the state. The House vote came one week after the Senate gave unanimous approval to its own version of the measure,  putting the bills well on their way to final passage.

“I’m overwhelmed, in a good way,” Bailey, a Harford County mom, said Wednesday evening after the House vote.

The two bills are the main pieces in a package of five bills that are  of the LEAD act — Laila’s Elopement Awareness and Dissemination Act. The bill is named for Bailey’s autistic daughter, Laila, who once ran off without a trace, a terrifying reality for many families taking care of people with disabilities. She was later found unharmed.

The package of bills would affect how schools, health insurance and state agencies respond to the issue of elopement.  It also is the official name of �����Ի���, requiring police training for situations involving elopement — which is not standardized across the state.

The House would approve  later Wednesday, a bill allowing parents of autistic children and children with other disabilities to share the use of tracking devices with their child’s school, so that school administrators can help find a child in the case of elopement.

Del. Aaron M. Kaufman (D-Montgomery) said he was “elated” to vote for the legislation “that will save lives and put the minds of parents at ease.” Without a Senate version of the bill, HB 1182 will need to be cleared by a Senate committee before it can be considered by the full Senate.

This is the first year for the package of elopement bills, and their rate of approval so far is unusual for new proposals in Annapolis, where lawmakers are typically more comfortable with legislation after they’ve seen it a couple times. Bailey said she was thrilled with the progress of the two main bills, and hopes the remaining legislation in the package will have the same success in the last month of the session.

“This is such a good step for Maryland … It’s going to touch so many lives,” she said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that about 1 in 31 8-year-olds has autism. Several autism-focused associations and resource organizations say that roughly 45%-50% of kids with autism are reported to wander or bolt from safe locations and out of the supervision of a safe adult.

But the safety risks involved with developmental disabilities also impact people with dementia, who may get confused or frightened and leave without warning. Other developmental disabilities can result in elopement behaviors as well.

The legislative package was partially inspired by Bailey’s terrifying experience of learning that then-6-year-old Laila had “eloped” one day in 2020, meaning she wandered off while under the supervision of a caregiver.

Fortunately, Laila was found that day. But the experience of worrying over whether her daughter would be found led Bailey to work with Maryland lawmakers so that other families can have more resources when they face elopement by a family member.

Not all of the LEAD Act package is moving. That’s particularly true of bills that come with substantial fiscal notes that sponsors need to justify, or find a way to trim the costs.

That’s the current concern for , which would require Maryland Medicaid and other state programs to cover the cost of monitoring devices, by classifying them as “medical equipment” for those with a higher chance of elopement.

Elopement response devices would require coverage of both the device itself and a monthly service fee, according to state analysts, running an average of $848 per person annually. The state could have some help covering those devices through federal match dollars, but in a tight budget year, every dollar counts. The bill has yet to get a vote in committee.

Some advocates are worried that tough decisions will have to be made, even if lawmakers agree on the merits of the legislation.

“There are some hard choices to be made this session, absolutely,” said Melissa Rosenberg, executive director of the Autism Society Maryland. “It would be great if they (legislators) can do it. I would imagine a lot of the things that we’d like to have done are very expensive. The state is going to have to prioritize.”

Two other bills are moving, but whether they are moving quickly enough remains to be seen. One would expand currently required  a mile radius around the school grounds, including any bodies of water — as most fatalities among autistic kids who wander are due to drowning. It is awaiting a final vote in the House, perhaps this weekend. There is no corresponding Senate version of that bill.

Another would require the state health department to create a webpage of resources for family caregivers who take care of individuals — due to age, disability, chronic illness or other functional limitations — including information on safety planning for wandering and elopement.  was voted out of the House Health Committee on Friday and is headed to the full House. There is no Senate version of the bill, either.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking down to Monday’s “crossover” deadline, when bills need to move from their originating chamber to the other for best consideration. Advocates like Bailey believe that there is still time to work out some of the fiscal challenges that may be holding up other pieces of the LEAD Act bills.

But Bailey also notes that the education about elopement as an issue has also been valuable, as she’s testified for bills in the LEAD Act this year.

“I’ve gotten things like, ‘Wow, I did not know what elopement was until I saw your bills,’” she said. “Education has been a tremendous piece of insight through all of this.”

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Since the conflict began last month with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, the price of a gallon of regular gas in Maryland has risen by 92 cents, to an average of $3.82 a gallon as of Thursday, . The state share of the gas tax is half that increase, at 46 cents a gallon.

“We’ve been talking about taxes, but one of the things that’s happened, obviously, with the conflict in the Middle East, is that gas prices have been rising, and it’s somewhat to be expected,” said Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready (R-Frederick and Carroll). “You have a conflict, or a war happening in the Middle East of any kind, you’re going to see a disruption in gas prices. Hopefully it’s temporary.”

In the meantime, House Republicans will focus on getting gas-holiday language inserted into a budget reconciliation bill scheduled to come up next week, said House Minority Leader Jason C. Buckel (R-Allegany). The budget bills passed the Senate this week and are headed to the House, which is expected to largely agree to the bills.

“I think it’s already a little bit baked in the cake, but it won’t be up for our consideration until roughly next Wednesday,” Buckel said of the budget package. “I believe that’s the anticipation of when it will be on the floor. But we’re going to make the argument in that fashion, because it makes more sense to do it and force people to take a position on the issue [a gas-tax holiday]. I don’t think anyone should really be opposed to this.”

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are expected to introduce a tax holiday bill, even though bills introduced this late in the session are typically sent to the Senate Rules Committee  The Republican proposal faces a difficult road.

The Senate bill, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Stephen S. Hershey Jr. (R-Upper Shore), is not yet drafted. Bills introduced this late into the session are typically sent to the Senate Rules Committee, where they sit without a vote. Hershey said he will ask to suspend the rules and have the bill sent directly to a standing committee, but the Democratic supermajority in the Senate is not obligated to honor the request.

“We think it’s well worth the conversation,” Hershey said.

It’s also unlikely House Republicans will succeed in their efforts to graft the language on to the  budget reconciliation bill, since actions on those bills must either raise revenues or cut spending.

Republicans are undeterred. But the notion appears to have little support so far. Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) had not seen details of the proposal and declined through a spokesperson to comment Thursday. House Appropriations Chair Ben Barnes (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) also declined comment.

But a spokesperson for Gov. Wes Moore (D) blasted the proposal.

“Marylanders need real relief, not a 30-day gas tax suspension that would blow a $100 million hole in our transportation budget while we’re working to close Maryland’s budget shortfall,” said Ammar Moussa, the spokesperson.

“If Maryland Republicans are serious about lowering costs, they should pick up the phone and call Donald Trump and tell him to end this missionless war — instead of asking Maryland taxpayers to help pay for it,” said Moussa, citing reports that the war is costing more than a billion dollars a day and driving up prices. “The best way to bring prices down is to address the source of the pain, not shift the cost of Donald Trump’s war onto Maryland families.”

While Republicans acknowledge prices have climbed since the start of military action, none would break with the president, criticize the war or call for an end to the conflict.

“I’m not going to speak for anybody else, but I would say, based on the intelligence we’ve seen, I have zero … problem with targeting Iran in the way that we’re targeting,” Ready said. “I think that, to me, it’s a frustrating situation we find ourselves in national politics where, because of who the president is, one way or the other, I don’t think you should have a knee-jerk reaction.”

A gas-tax holiday does not come without cost to the state.

Much of the state gas tax is funneled into the beleaguered Transportation Trust Fund, which is already struggling to pay for a backlog of highway and transit projects. Gas tax revenues continue to erode, with increased use of more fuel-efficient and electric vehicles, as well as a greater number of people who work from home.

Costs for the 2022 forbearance approached $100 million, but legislative leaders and then-Gov. Larry Hogan were able to use $100 million in surplus funds — part of a $7.5 billion COVID-era surplus — to backfill the gap.

That was then.

Today, the state faces lean budget times as it works to finalize a budget that will erase a projected $1.5 billion structural gap. The $2.2 billion rainy day fund in this year’s budget is above the 5% statutory minimum. But at 8% of revenue, it is at the edge of the kind of reserve levels with which some bond rating agencies have been comfortable.

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That’s the thrust of Kagan’s , which was heard Tuesday by the Senate Education, Energy and the Environment Committee. The bill would still allow those individuals to vote, run for a political office and even apply for various state jobs.

“It’s just the prestigious appointments by the governor to be on a board, a commission, task force or work group,” said , who serves as vice chair of the committee. “I hope that some of them regret their ways and would like to give back, but they shouldn’t be allowed to get a prestigious appointment, in my opinion.”

The bill also says that anyone convicted in the 2021 attack on the Capitol could not be appointed to certain positions within the of state government. In addition, a person wouldn’t be granted “a position categorized as a special appointment” under this .

A subsequent pardon by President (R) — who pardoned nearly 1,500 Capitol rioters on his first day back in office last year — wouldn’t make a difference. They would still be prohibited from serving on a state board.

Another part of the bill states, “If an appointing authority determines that an individual” did participate in the Jan. 6 insurrection, that board must “take immediate action to remove or terminate the employment of the individual.”

Kagan had two major backers on hand Tuesday: former U.S. Capitol Police officers and who both were on the front lines at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Gonell, 45, told the committee he was assaulted by more than 40 rioters, sustaining injuries that required surgery on his right foot and left shoulder. Gonell’s now retired after eight years in the Army and 17 years in the Capitol Police.

Although Gonell wrote about that day, “American Shield: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy,” he said the attack “changed my life, but not for the better.”

“This bill would help to remediate some of this trauma and PTSD because the people who assaulted me and my colleagues on that day should not be awarded,” said Gonell. “He [Trump] pardoned them and that’s a betrayal on our democracy and in law enforcement.”

has kept himself busy running a political action committee called  He ran unsuccessfully for Maryland’s 3rd District seat in Congress in 2024, and is now one of two dozen Democrats seeking to replace 5th District Rep. Steny Hoyer, who is retiring after more than four decades in Congress.

Dunn said Tuesday it’s hard to forget Jan. 6, especially when the calls nine people who stormed the Capitol and died — four on Jan. 6 and five later by suicide — “beautiful souls.”

“I would be less inclined to throw my full unwavering support behind this legislation if the Trump administration wasn’t actively trying to rewrite history,” Dunn said.

Sen. Ron Watson (D-Prince George’s), a member of the committee, said the individuals who stormed the Capitol “had a deranged president who coached them into those activities.”

But Watson asked what would happen if the governor pardoned someone convicted of a crime.

“Is there an opportunity to be able to resurrect some goodness out of that horrible, horrible event that could be to the benefit and be a part of the whole rehabilitation” process? he asked.

Kagan said the bill doesn’t deter anyone convicted from voting, seeking state employment, or even running for public office. She reiterated that the bill has a focus on gubernatorial appointments.

“This is just related to the one dark day, Jan. 6, 2021, and that stands alone. They can come back and serve and have a second chance,” she said.

Kagan said all the Democratic senators joined as co-sponsors and urged her Republican colleagues to join them.

None of the Republicans on the committee spoke, but at least two people submitted written testimony against the bill.

“This bill is partisan, overreaching, and unnecessary,” said Trudy Tibbals of Mount Airy. “Such measures politicize government employment and elected office, setting a dangerous precedent for disqualifying individuals based on past political involvement or protest activity.”

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Low-income households could see even greater savings from Utility RELIEF Act, the  that is expected to hit the House floor Monday, with some savings kicking in as early as this summer if the bill passes.

“Bills are not rising because households are suddenly starting to use more power,” Gov. Wes Moore (D) said Friday. “They are rising because our people are stuck in a system that is actively working against them. And I’m here with all these lawmakers because each and every one of us feel that pain. Because we’re pissed, and because we know more needs to be done.”

Under the Utility RELIEF Act, customers would quickly see sizable reductions to a surcharge that covers the EmPOWER Maryland program, through which Marylanders access energy efficiency upgrades, such as home appliance rebates. The program would be reduced in size for several years.

Other decreases would take place quickly, though they won’t be a visible line item on customers’ bills. The package includes a House-passed measure that would ban utility companies from charging customers for supervisor compensation over $285,000, requiring shareholders to shoulder that cost. And it would force companies to eat the cost of membership in a regional grid instead of charging it to ratepayers, saving about $20 million annually.

Some changes would take longer to realize. Annually, the bill would send $100 million previously collected from ratepayers and direct it toward auctions for new solar energy and battery storage projects. It would set new restrictions on utility rate increases, and encourage companies to consider alternatives to building new power transmission lines.

During his remarks in the State House rotunda on Friday, Moore expressed frustration with Maryland utilities, pointing to his own mother’s utility bill, which he said reached $517 in January.

“These are Marylanders. They deserve better,” Moore said. “ And all this is being done while energy executives are planning their vacations.”

In a joint statement Friday, Maryland’s Exelon utilities — Baltimore Gas & Electric, Delmarva Power and Pepco — said they will be reviewing the legislation to “ensure the proposed measures would not have any unintended consequences for our customers.”

“We ask that legislators work closely with energy industry experts to ensure that none of the measures being proposed would increase customer costs, introduce risks to safety and reliability, or jeopardize economic development,” read the statement. “Deferring necessary work can lead to more disruptive and expensive outcomes, as Maryland has seen when critical infrastructure is allowed to deteriorate.”

The annual electricity bill savings could be considerably higher for low-income families, said Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City). He pointed to a plan to put $37 million from a ratepayer-fueled state fund to cap rates for low-income people at 6% of their income.

“On the income-eligible individuals, we are talking up to thousands” in savings, Ferguson said. “Those are the most vulnerable amongst us. They will have significantly higher savings.”

The money will come from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund, the state fund that has burgeoned in recent years. Utilities pay into it when they do not purchase enough renewable energy to meet state goals. Lawmakers are leaning on the now-massive fund to balance the budget — a Senate proposal would pull $292 million from SEIF to balance the budget, mirroring a proposal from Moore.

House and Senate Republicans argued the plan doesn’t yield enough savings for ratepayers, and relies too heavily on renewable energy projects to bolster energy supply.

“The biggest problem is: We’re doing nothing to increase energy generation long-term. We’re continuing to say we’re going to solar power our way out of the energy crisis,” said Del. Jason Buckel (R-Allegany), the House minority leader.

Republicans have proposed a pause on the EmPOWER program, and a bill that would withdraw Maryland from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate initiative to limit carbon emissions.

“They’re reversing their own policies,” said Sen. Justin Ready (R- Carroll and Frederick). “They may have some relief, but it would be very easy to more than double the kind of relief they’re talking about.”

“Twelve bucks a month, that’s great. We’re all going to support any kind of ratepayer relief we can, reasonably,” Buckel said. “But the cost of a Big Mac is not going to change [things].”

It didn’t get much airtime Friday, but the leadership package also aims to bring energy suppliers back into Maryland’s marketplace to compete with the utilities, by offering them additional flexibility over current law. They would be able to ink three-year contracts with customers, instead of deals lasting no more than one year, and charge up to 110% of the standard offer service rate charged by utilities.

It comes two years after Maryland made significant changes meant to drive away energy scammers that ended up diminishing the market instead, forcing ratepayers to buy their electricity from their local utilities.

Environmental advocates are fighting hard against the changes to EmPOWER. They argue that, even though consumers will see a lower surcharge in the short term, bills could increase later on. That’s because there will be less investment in efficient appliances and home weatherization, increasing the amount of energy that homes demand, and possibly requiring the construction of additional infrastructure.

“There are a lot of great policies in the Utility RELIEF Act. Unfortunately, there are two lines that gut Maryland’s most successful bill reduction program,” said Jamie DeMarco, a lobbyist representing the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Cutting energy efficiency is similar to cutting Medicaid, in that you get savings in year one, but very quickly the entire system ends up costing a lot more.”

During Friday’s news conference, Del. Marc Korman (D-Montgomery) defended the three-year cut to EmPOWER, arguing that the program remains in place, and that its programs exclusively for low- and moderate-income Marylanders won’t be affected by the cuts.

“We kept EmPOWER. So, we have made some tweaks to it — short-term tweaks,” Korman said. “But we want to preserve the program, because energy efficiency is incredibly important.”

It isn’t clear exactly how much of EmPOWER will be eliminated by the Utility RELIEF Act, said a policy adviser for the House Speaker, but low-income programs represent about 40% of EmPOWER and those programs will be preserved.

Environmental groups fear the cuts would be steep. The utilities wouldn’t need to meet as stringent greenhouse gas reduction goals with their EmPOWER programs, effectively shrinking their offerings. The goals wouldn’t return to their 2027 level until 2036. On top of that, the utilities would be allowed to count solar projects in their territories toward their greenhouse gas reduction goal, further reducing the amount of home energy efficiency programs they need to provide to the ratepayers.

It also isn’t clear how the changes could impact energy demand in the future, said a policy adviser to Ferguson, who noted that appliances aren’t replaced every year “so, just because an EmPOWER program may be slightly more limited than it was in the past, doesn’t mean that homeowners are not going to naturally be replacing those appliances with higher efficiency versions.”

A coalition of environmental groups also argued that the bill it not tough enough on data centers. The bill would encourage them to mitigate their power demands, use local workers and pay for their power — but it would not set requirements.

“As House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk said, this bill is not perfect, and we believe it should be strengthened. Intentions to hold data centers accountable are a positive step, but we need firm regulatory requirements to increase transparency, sustainability and accountability for hyperscale data centers,” read a statement from Nature Forward and Marylanders for Data Center Reform.

Moore also took the opportunity Friday to continue his attacks on PJM Interconnection, the regional transmission operator serving Maryland. He has argued that PJM’s procedures stymied the arrival of clean energy projects onto the grid, all while data centers’ power demand soared.

“Our regional grid operator will tell you how hard it is to add projects and how hard it is to lower their bills. They will tell you how technical this is and how complicated this is. And here’s what I know: The people of Maryland are smart. And we don’t want you gaslighting us. Lower our prices,” Moore said.

Despite the pushback, House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) was optimistic about the bill’s chances.

“Do you know how to tell that a legislation is a good piece of legislation?” Peña-Melnyk asked. “When all people on all sides are unhappy … The utilities hate it. The environmental groups don’t love it. And I know they’re upset. But we must work together. And everyone had to give up a little. We had to compromise to deliver for the people in Maryland.”

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Lawmakers are scheduled to take up a bill this week that would take two commission appointments away from the governor and hand them over to legislative leaders, who would also gain the authority to name an additional five members to the commission between them. The bill would also add a representative from the Maryland Commission for African American History and Culture to the panel.

Those changes are part of , sponsored by Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D-Prince George’s), which is scheduled to be heard Thursday by the Education, Energy and the Environment Committee.

A representative from the governor’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment Friday on Muse’s bill.

Legislation creating a reparations commission passed last year after years of trying, but Gov. Wes Moore (D) — the nation’s only Black governor — surprised many when he chose to last spring. The governor said in his veto message in May that it was a “difficult decision” but that “now is not the time for another study. Now is the time for continued action that delivers results for the people we serve.”

The legislature overrode the governor’s veto to create a voluntary commission to assess specific federal, state and local policies from 1877 to 1965, the post-Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras, and to examine how public and private institutions may have benefited from policies that led to discrimination. The commission is also charged with recommending appropriate reparations, from a statement of apology to monetary compensation or social service assistance.

That bill called for a 23-member commission, with members from the public, industry, academia and various interest groups. Muse’s bill would expand that list to 28 members, adding the representative of the Maryland Commission for African American History and Culture, whose Executive Director Chanel C. Johnson welcomed the change in a statement Friday.

“We are excited about what is to come. While we have not yet made a selection, we look forward to doing so in the near future,” Johnson said.

Muse’s bill would also take the governor’s ability to appoint two members of the general public, but would give Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) the authority to appoint two members of the general public each, or four total.

Ferguson and Peña-Melnyk would each appoint a “faith leader” to the commission under Muse’s bill, and would jointly have final say on a representative of the state NAACP, who would have been chosen by the state chapter president under the original bill. All told, Moore appointees on the board fall from eight to six under Muse’s bill, and the speaker’s and president’s appointees rise from four to nine.

One community leader Muse said mentioned as a possible nominee is the Rev. Robert Turner, pastor of Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore. Turner has hosted monthly walks for several years from Baltimore to the White House for reparations to be granted nationally. Turner posted on last month he completed his 40th walk, which he called “40 walks for 40 acres.”

Turner, who traveled to Annapolis to join Muse and Del. Aletheia McCaskill (D-Baltimore County) in support of establishing the commission, was unavailable for comment Friday.

“People like Rev. Turner are why it’s important that we hold up our position and keep Black History at a forefront so that we never forget the damage that it’s done to our people and how they have been disenfranchised for so long,” Muse said Friday. “That needs to stay in front of us as a priority.”

McCaskill, who sponsored the House version of last year’s reparations bill — the Senate version ultimately passed — said the addition of a few more individuals will ensure more voices are heard.

Muse’s bill also pushes back the deadline for a preliminary report from the commission, from Jan. 1, 2027, to Sept. 30, 2028, and extends deadline for a final report from Nov. 1, 2027, to Dec. 1, 2028. McCaskill said the dates needed to be pushed back because “we’ve lost so much time” due to the governor’s veto.

One other provision would require the commission to “hold at least three public hearings and continuously solicit public input.”

McCaskill had some advice for those anxiously waiting for the commission to begin its work.

“It’s been a long time coming. Take deep breaths,” she said. “Hang in there with us because we have a lot of work to do.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org.

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What is practically a perennial effort to let other retailers sell some alcoholic beverages appears destined to stall again, with two key Senate Democrats saying a Senate bill is not poised to move forward, and a House version hitting a brick wall of concerns about small business owners Wednesday.

“I don’t foresee us this year taking on this issue in a significant way,” Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) told reporters Tuesday. “I do think probably in the next term, we’re going to have to figure out some sort of compromise here.”

He said he does not see that compromise emerging in the remaining six weeks of this session, but that “in the next term, there’s probably a broader conversation about how to do this as fairly as possible, because we do know that it is that convenience is what Marylanders want.”

Cailey Locklair, president of the Maryland Retailers Alliance, called Ferguson’s comments “unfortunate.”

“We have independent studies stating that $75 million in new revenue would come to Maryland. This is not a new tax. This is not a new cut. This is a decision that benefits communities. It provides jobs. Neighborhood Stabilization retains existing stores and attracts new ones.”

The retailers association is a member of the Consumer Freedom Coalition, which is backing the push to expand beer and wine sales and, as part of that effort, targeted Ferguson in a mail campaign. The coalition also commissioned a University of Baltimore study looking at the potential effects of .

Supporters, undaunted, gathered in Annapolis Wednesday to push for passage of , which was being heard by the House Economic Matters Committee, and , which was heard last month. The bills are similar, but not identical.

Both bills would allow grocery stores and big box wholesale chains to sell beer and wine. The House bill also includes convenience stores and pharmacies, if they meet minimum square footage requirements.

“People deserve to have the choice to purchase things where they please,” said Del. Marlon Amprey (D-Baltimore City), sponsor of the House bill.

Neither bill creates new licenses, but would let current license holders could sell their licenses.

Amprey said his proposal would not “eliminate or devalue” existing licenses. “We’re not talking about creating more competition. We’re literally just changing the name on the door,” he said.

The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Antonio Hayes (D-Beltimore City), bill appears destined to remain in committee. A similar bill last year was withdrawn before the Senate Finance Committee could vote it down.

Sen. Pamela Beidle (D-Anne Arundel), chair of the Finance Committee, said last fall a return of the bill would likely meet a similar fate this year. She said Friday she does not believe the committee has changed its position.

“I still think there’s a great deal of concern about these small, family-owned businesses, and we’ve all heard from them. I really think that it’s a tough issue to weigh,” Beidle said Friday. “Convenience for constituents is important, but so is small business, and to be business friendly.”

Maryland is one of four states, with Delaware, Alaska and Rhode Island, that do not allow grocery stores or other retailers to sell beer, wine or liquor.

Restrictions in Maryland date back about 50 years. Some stores at the time were selling alcohol, including distilled spirits. Today, about 30 nontraditional stores sell alcohol. The list of grandfathered license holders include groceries, convenience stores and pharmacies. Some continue to sell liquor, as well.

Expanded sales polls well in Maryland: In surveys paid for by supporters, four in five people say they want beer and wine in grocery stores. The convenience of one-stop shopping drives that support.

The bills face opposition from a powerful alliance of alcohol wholesalers, distributors and retailers.

Like Beidle, many lawmakers worry about the fate of small-business owners.

“We’re talking about pulling the rug out from under small, established businesses who have built their businesses,” said Del. April Rose (R-Carroll), during Wednesday’s Economic Matters Committee hearing. “A lot of these are family-owned businesses, and you’re changing the rules, and you’re making things much more difficult for them.”

Many point to the experience in Colorado, which allowed groceries nine years ago to sell beer, wine and spirits. To do so, the grocery had to buy existing licenses from two nearby stores.

By 2023, some stores reported of up to 15% and a 33% reduction in employees. Gov. Jared Polis (D) last April ending the practice of groceries buying out smaller stores to enter the market.

Supporters in Maryland insist that allowing groceries and other stores to sell alcohol will not run out small businesses.

The University of Baltimore study, funded by bill supporters, noted the sales and job losses in Colorado, but said that the impact in Maryland “may be overstated and based on the experience of other states these businesses can be expected to recover.”

Jack Milani, owner of Monaghan’s Pub in western Baltimore County and legislative co-chair of the Maryland Licensed Beverage Association, said he had not seen the study but was skeptical.

“I’m a realist. I mean, I have folks in other states tell me completely opposite things,” Milani said, speaking of Colorado. “So, you know, we’re going to deal with the people that I know and trust, because I think anybody can have a study done. Depending on how you do it, you get different results.”

Lawmakers including Beidle, who retires at the end of the term, are also unconvinced.

“It’s not just the small businesses that you’re going to hurt. It’s going to be the local breweries and the local wineries and, you know, the things that you’re just not going to walk into a grocery store and buy,” she said. “And so we’re hurting those businesses too, if we pass this bill, because they’ll probably stop manufacturing if they aren’t selling well.”

The bill, even if it dies again this year, is likely to return in the next term.

“We’ll keep working on it,” Beidle said. “I don’t think it’s going to go away.”

Locklair said her group is prepared to continue pushing for expansion.

“The conversation is not going to go away. The numbers of support in Maryland keep going up every single year,” she said.

“People want better prices. They want convenience. They want grocery stores in their communities and in many communities,” Locklair said. “Now they’re realizing, wow, this might be an opportunity for us to attract a store when maybe we never have access to one. So it’s to push the goal post, and we’re not going to stop it.”

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